Why Do Trump’s Fan Excuse Trump’s Anti-American Actions?

While sitting in the Miami airport for an extended layover on the way to Europe, I got myself embroiled in a Twitter battle with the Trump Army. I had responded to a post by a Trump fan, and soon enough I was tweeting back and forth to a veritable shit-ton of Trump jihadists. I felt a bit like an Auburn fan standing in the middle of the University of Alabama, yelling that Bear Bryant was a lying fraud. The reaction to my views was, in short, unpleasant.

But here’s where I get so confused by Trumpophiles: they all claim to stand behind American values, yet they’re blind to the fact that their leader tramples all over those same values.

I happened to get myself embroiled in this particular Tweet-off just after Trump had returned from his first foreign diplomacy trip, with stops in the Middle East and Europe. While the Arabs feted him as if a prodigal son, the Europeans were rightfully standoffish because Trump treated them with disdain.

And that’s where my confusion begins.

The Trump camp believes in American democracy and God – specifically, their version of a Christian God. They believe in America’s God-given freedom. They grew up hating Russia for dictators that limit freedom and hate on democracy. They’ve grown to despise Muslims because of the terrorist attacks in America and their hatred of American democracy and freedoms, namely religion.

And yet Trump has come into the White House and not only alienated some of our biggest allies (Australia, Germany, Canada, Japan) who support our freedoms, he has embraced the very countries that oppose the freedoms and the Christian God to which the Trump Army prays.

Since when does making America great again mean elevating those who hate us the most? And why do Trumpublicans buy into this his shit – especially all those military folks who have spent a career battling Russia and Muslims, directly and indirectly? Makes no sense.

Russia was for the longest time the Evil Empire that represented America’s nuclear annihilation and hatred of our democratic processes that put political power in the hands of the people, rather than politicians or a dictator. Saudi Arabia is the cradle of one of the most extreme religious views in all of Islam and the birthplace of al-Qaeda and the 9/11 attacks (as well as the oil empire Americans supposedly despise). China, meanwhile, threatens America’s economic hegemony and, like Russia, hates that we give our people so many freedoms (though Trump railed against China in the campaign, he seems to have embraced China in his presidency).

Conversely, Western Europe was our sidekick. They fought alongside us in wars. They battled with us against Middle East terrorists, ISIS and the Afghan Taliban. They represent the same values of religious, economic and personal freedoms that Trump supporters hold so dear.

And yet I had people in this Twitter war saying they’re pleased to see Trump knocking the Europeans around. They were happy to see him fondled so obsequiously by the Saudi’s, yet miffed that he was treated the way he was in Europe (never mind that Trump treated Europeans with disdain and disrespect, and made factually wrong comments about German trade with America.) They’re upset with the media for continuing to unearth Trump’s myriad ties to Russia.

It’s head-scratching, really.

How is cozying up to a government that supports such non-American, non-Christian views as Saudi Arabia does good for the U.S. that Trump voters believe in? How is it that Trump fans don’t want to know if he really does have ties to Russia that might compromise him as president of their freedom-loving country?

If the Saudi’s awarded Hillary their highest civilian honor, as they did Trump, the lunatic fringe of the Republican party that blindly supports Trump would have spewed hate-filled vitriol about Muslim-loving Clinton with such force it would have caked its panties from screaming so loud and so long. And, OMFG, if similar allegations about Russian connections swirled around Obama or Hillary Clinton, the Trump contingent would march on Washington demanding impeachment of the Russkie puppet.

Why this disconnect?

Why is it that Trump’s most-vociferous supporters so willingly toss aside their American values when it comes to Trump?

Are they just anti-woman, so they feel they must hate Hillary and go with anyone who opposes her? Are they just anti-black, so they feel compelled to hate Obama and go with anyone who opposes him?

Do they fear that if Trump does have impeachable ties to Russia that they will get a Democrat in the White House, so they’re willing to subvert their own values and destroy the country in the process? Do they simply believe every Tweet he types, without doing their own independent research (independent meaning “not Breitbart or Infowars”)?

Are they just uneducated and cannot grasp that the leader they voted for doesn’t actually represent the beliefs they supposedly espouse? (Don’t misread; I’m not saying their uneducated.)

Do they bathe in the Trump Kool-Aid so deeply that they cannot see his dictatorial, anti-democracy stylings? After all, they railed against Obama’s use of executive orders, but Trump signed 51 in his first 100 days vs. 41 for Obama. Trump has issued to his staff more ethics waivers in four months than Obama did in eight years (meaning Trump’s staff is essentially free to violate ethics rules). Do Trump’s sycophants not see the irony in this hypocrisy that they support?

And how is it that what is largely a demonstratively Christian subset of “America First” Americans doesn’t care that Trump sucks up to a Muslim nation that clearly doesn’t put American first in any regard except maybe using us for its supply of weapons and missile defense? (The real irony here is that Trump is hellbent on destroying ISIS yet he denounces Iran, which, as a nation of Shia Muslims, is the natural enemy of ISIS, yet prostrates himself before Saudi Arabia, which shares the core, fundamentalist Sunni tenets with ISIS).

How is it that Trump fans don’t seem to care that he has ties to Russia and that those ties might well have comprised the sanctity and integrity of the American electoral process?

It’s all so dumbfounding. (And this says nothing of the fact that many of Trump’s executive orders, his policies, his budget and his tax plan actually hurt the very people who voted for him and who still blindly support him).

I wish I had an answer to these questions. Then I could understand why it is that when anyone challenges a Trump supporter their first response is to, weirdly and aggressively, attack Hillary or Obama … yet conveniently avoid the original point about Trump.

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About Author

Jeff Opdyke

Globally focused investment analyst who has traveled to more than 60 countries to put geo-political and geo-economic events into an investment perspective. I consult to asset- and wealth-management firm 1291 Group of the America. And, since my 9/11 experience, I worry that America is moving in the wrong direction...